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Arizona Just Broke the NCAA's Concussion Policy. Will it Matter?

TUCSON, AZ - SEPTEMBER 08: Quarterback Matt Scott #10 of the Arizona Wildcats celebrates with teammates following their 59-38 victory over the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the college football game at Arizona Stadium on September 8, 2012 in Tucson, Arizona. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Congratulations, University of Arizona. Your football team just scored a big win over USC–partly because your quarterback played through an almost-certain concussion.

To be fair, it was your biggest victory in two whole years. And the NCAA’s not going to penalize you, so why protect your player? It’s not like we’ve learned anything about football and head injuries.

Here was the key sequence of events: In the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game, Arizona QB Matt Scott was kicked in the head while sliding during a play. Scott immediately began vomiting on the sidelines, repeatedly, as the game went to commercial.

Scott was showing tell-tale signs of concussion, and the NCAA–which is being sued for failing to implement appropriate concussion screening, return-to-play guidelines, and other safety measures–is pretty clear on what coaches should do next: “Take [an athlete] out of play immediately and allow adequate time for evaluation by a health care professional experienced in evaluating for concussion.” As one NCAA factsheet reads,

1. Remove the student-athlete from play…Do not allow the student-athlete to just “shake it off.” Each individual athlete will respond to concussions differently. 2. Ensure that the student-athlete is evaluated right away by an appropriate health care professional. 3. Allow the student-athlete to return to play only with permission from a health care professional with experience in evaluating for concussion.

However, well-paid Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez and his staff did none of those things. Instead, Scott stayed in the game–and even threw a touchdown pass–before finally going to the sidelines, apparently vomiting again, and being evaluated by trainers for a head injury. Not surprisingly, once Scott was actually forced to undergo a concussion test, he was immediately removed from the game.

By keeping Scott on the field, Arizona had little to lose, other than the game; the NCAA’s concussion policy is toothless and links to some of their head-injury resources don’t even appear to be working on their website. (Try clicking on “Behind the Blue Disk: NCAA’s Approach to Concussions.”)

And despite everything we know about head injuries, the culture of complicity extends to those who cover the sport. I didn’t actually watch the game, but was told that the announcers were blasé about Scott playing through his big hit. The initial write-ups on ESPN and elsewhere didn’t mention the sequence of events; others even celebrated Scott’s toughness. “Arizona Wildcats upset USC Trojans behind Matt Scott’s heart,” wrote SB Nation’s Kevin Zimmerman.

(This isn’t an isolated incident. Just a few weeks ago, USC star receiver Robert Woods took a shot to the head in a game vs. Utah, stumbled around the field, and was administered a simple three-question concussion test before being allowed back on the field within minutes. As Utah Jazz announcer David Locke pointed out on Twitter, the two events show that “much of [the] concussion talk is lip service,” at least on the college level.)

The NCAA wants to give the impression that it cares about its student-athletes; “Health & Safety” comes before “Championships” on the organization’s homepage.

Except, of course, when it’s obvious that the NCAA–and one of its most prominent coaches–don’t care at all.

Update, 10/28, 1:40 p.m.: Over at Deadspin, Issac Rauch has video of Matt Scott’s concussion. It’s important to note that after the timeout shown in the video–where Scott goes to the sidelines, still vomiting– the coaches kept him in the game for several more plays.

Announcers are never afraid to second-guess a coach for calling a passing play instead of a run, or a run instead of a punt. It’s sad that Millen and Joe Tessitore couldn’t bring the same vigor to questioning a call that put a player’s health at risk.

Update, 10/30, 2:30 a.m.: At Monday’s press conference, Rodriguez offered additional detail — although mostly, it was lack of detail — about the sequence of events on Saturday. The coach refused to specify whether Scott had a concussion test, and if he’d passed it.

However, Rodriguez did explain that when Scott first came to the sidelines after being hit and vomiting, he asked the QB “Are you OK?,” with trainers looking on. That was the extent of the initial testing – and when Scott said yes, he stayed in the game.

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We can see thr true nature of the event by watching next Saturday, to see if the young man is on the field again for their next game. Based upon information provided, there is no medical doctor that would clear a young man for play and Scott should be carefully handled for the next 2 weeks. The health of the young man is the only thing that matters, not the significance of the game.

Hi zman – thanks for writing. It actually doesn’t work that way; many top athletes can bounce back reasonably quickly from concussions. If doctors clear him, there’s no reason to think Scott couldn’t play this Saturday.

Case in point: A few weeks ago, star Washington Redskins QB Robert Griffin III suffered — by the team’s own admission — a concussion. He was back out on the field for the next game and played great.

Doctors warn that problems stem when 1) you have too many concussions and 2) you try to play through them, as it seemed like Scott was at risk of doing against USC. Agreed — the health of the player comes first.

Oh I agree, many top athletes CAN, but more often than not, they dont. Its also a tad different in the NCAA vs the NFL, dont you think? ALthough both are ‘businesses’, the NCAA still has the STUDENT ATHLETE to worry about first, then the game second. In the NFL, it is quite different in determining the need versus the risk.

Hey I have an idea. Why not investigate whether or not it is team policy for USC to headhunt and injure other players? The issue is THAT, not whether or not you can make up some phoney baloney charge against my coaching staff. I was there and there was a tremendous amount of confusion during that period. Easy for you guys in New York to sit there in your comfy chairs and pontificate. I saw a WHOLE GAME of dirty play from that other team from California. I want to know if THEIR coach condones headhunting? How about asking THAT?

This is my favorite quote from the story, “I didn’t actually watch the game”.

I agree that this is a fishy situation at best. As a ‘Cats fan, I am not happy about him going back in if he was concussed. I am also not trying to find some way to make it OK if it ends up he has a concussion, which it sure seems like he did. My one question is this; is it possible he and the doctors thought he was throwing up from running on what was a hot day at the stadium? It was a short time to evaluate before they got the ball back. But I agree vomiting is an obvious sign and I wonder if his eyes were checked for dilation? I will be very disappointed if the staff knew and he was allowed to go back in.

His health is paramount and he better be 100% if he takes the field in L.A. this weekend.

Hey Dan. I’m sure you have extensive medical training, which is why you were able to diagnose Matt Scott from the comfort of your couch at home while watching SportsCenter. Turns out he doesn’t have a concussion. He vomited from exhaustion.

Whoops. Don’t you feel like an asshole. Not that I would expect you to apologize to Rich Rodriguez or the U of A medical staff.

Oh, and trainers make the call as to who is available to play, particularly when it comes to concussions–not coaches. So you kind of missed that giant point too. And Matt passed both concussion tests and was seen out that night.

Sincerely,

Someone who actually looked into what actually happened before jumping the gun to write an article about it in which they state that they didn’t actually watch the game.